Cowboy vs. Gastelum at UFC 205 in New York

When Robbie Lawler lost his title to Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 on July 30, he campaigned for an immediate fight. Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone knew a guy, and the fight was made, for UFC 205, the league’s triumphant return to New York, on November 12, 2016 at Madison Square Garden.

However, Lawler ultimately determined that he needed a little longer to get prepared.

The UFC was looking for an incredible opponent and found it in Kelvin Gastelum.

Gastelum started his career winning five in a row, and then entered TUF 17, winning all four exhibition bouts, and the season. Then he won four more in the UFC, before dropping a Split Decision to Tyron Woodley, who went on to win the welterweight championship.

After a series of missed weight cuts, he moved up to middleweight, defeating Nate Marquardt. On his return to welterweight, he lost a split decision to Neil Magny, before bouncing back to defeat Johny Hendricks.

Cowboy is one of the most exciting fighters in the league, and has never looked better since he moved up from lightweight to welterweight, winning three performance of the night bonuses.

In order to make the fight with Cowboy, Gastelum was pulled from a fight with Jorge Masvidal at The Ultimate Fighting Latin America 3 Finale on November 5, 2016, in Mexico City.

“It’s really heart breaking, man,” said Masvidal to Danny Segura for MMA Fighting. “We both signed bout agreements. Joe Silva told me it was more than on its way, you know. And I just found out today that they’re putting [Gastelum] to fight ‘Cowboy’. This is crazy, man, because this has happened to me three times. Like all the cases have been documented. Like me, my opponents, once I’ve signed, for some reason or another they get pulled out right before we get the match. So it breaks my heart, you know. I really wanted to put on a fight with a ranked guy.”

“I don’t know what reason they gave, but the real reason is that I’m not a big name. I don’t have a bunch of followers on Instagram or what not, you know what I’m saying. So I figured I wasn’t enough of a draw, counting the whole card of Mexico, as [opposed] of being in New York. That’s the only thing I could think of, you know. It’s just politics a lot of the times.

“So whatever, I’m just hoping I can get the highest-ranked possible dude. I don’t want to fight no up-and-coming guy, no guy that’s 15-0 but hasn’t faced anybody yet. That’s not where I am in my career. I need to fight the best in the world, so that’s what I’m looking to do Nov. 5th, fight the best in the world.””Johny Hendricks,” Masvidal said. “He’s No. 6 in the world right now. I think it would be a great fight”

“Johny Hendricks. He’s No. 6 in the world right now. I think it would be a great fight”

It is not yet known whether Masvidal will remain on the Mexico card, and if he does, who he will fight.